You and Oolok try to leave the city of Skelweerd as quietly as possible...

Surveillance. Secret stalkers. You are being watched in the most unexpected places. Any rustle in the shadows can be the last impression of your life.

Your knees began to shake slightly.

You felt a surge of fear at Oolok's words. Your thoughts are becoming more and more panicky.

You think: “Because of me, the pub I visited is already under surveillance! I could be followed in every quarter of this city! The killers will look for me in every possible place in this city! I found myself in some kind of hellish nightmare! I just want to live in peace, but I don’t know if I will be able to avoid the mortal threat that has arisen due to some mysterious villain who is trying to organize my ****!”

You feel sorry for yourself.

You think: “Why is the world so unfair to me!?”

You sniffle and feel tears starting to flow from your eyes. You are close to bursting into tears like a weak, offended girl.

However, Oolok doesn't let you just sit and brood. He hurries you and he forces you to quickly pack your things.

Oolok tells you: “Now is not the time to cry! Every minute can be decisive. Our survival depends on our speed, so act quickly! We need to leave this shitty fucking town as soon as possible!”

The wound on the palm of your left hand continues to hurt a lot. But you obey Oolok's demands and you quickly collect your things and prepare to leave this small room. Oolok is also packing his things. He takes his sword and packs it in his backpack so that the sword is invisible to outside observers.

You and Oolok leave the small room and begin to walk further along the dark underground tunnel. The half-orc leads you forward as only he knows the right direction, which will lead you to the port area of the city of Skelweerd.

After fifteen minutes of walking, Oolok stops you. He extends his hand somewhere towards the right wall of the tunnel. You try to take a closer look, but you see nothing in this place except mossy bricks and cobwebs. Your vision is clearly poorly adapted to the dark spaces of this underground tunnel.

However, Oolok clearly knows what to do. He takes out some dilapidated brick from the wall. The half-orc then reaches his hand inside the resulting hole in the wall. He turns some kind of lever inside the hole and a small section of the tunnel wall moves to the side. This section of the tunnel wall turned out to be a small door disguised. The size of this door is less than a meter in height.

Oolok grins and says: “Now we have to climb inside this passage. You can only move along this passage by crawling on all fours. But I think that the “on all fours” position is quite familiar for you, Jerome! Ha! Ha!"

You are a little discouraged that the half-orc Oolok can joke even in such a dangerous situation in which you find yourself with him. But you assume that he is doing this to distract you from sad thoughts and to support your spirit.

However, you ask him: “You said that the small room in which I slept is a secret space that is hidden within the walls of the sailors’ hotel. As far as I remember, this hotel is located exactly in the port quarter, which we need to get to. Was it really impossible to get directly into the hotel from this secret room, and then exit the hotel to the territory of the city port? Why are we wasting our time wandering through these underground tunnels?”

Oolok sullenly replies, “You're right, Jerome. We could go straight to the hotel and leave the hotel to the port. It would be faster. But there is one thing that is more important than speed. This is safety. I think the less persons sees you, the better. So follow me and don’t waste time chatting!”

Having said these words, the half-orc climbed into the narrow passage. You were **** to climb after him. As you moved through this cramped space of the hidden passage, you began to think that you might be feeling claustrophobic. As you moved, you had to push the web aside several times. Sand and particles of crumbled brick rained down on your head. The further you moved, the more you noticed a strange stench. The musty air of these underground spaces evoked nothing but disgust in your mind.

Finally, you saw Oolok ahead of you crawl to the end of the passage. He knocked out some rusty grate with his hand and he climbed out. You saw faint sunlight. You realized that the exit was close and you began to crawl faster.

Soon you crawled out of the narrow passage and you jumped out. You landed on the paving stones. You took a deep breath with pleasure. The fresh sea air of the port quarter was pleasant for you. You looked around: Oolok was standing next to you and he was waving his arms from side to side.

You looked at him with a blank look.

The half-orc said with a grin: “Not all persons are as accustomed to the position “on all fours” as you, Jerome! I need to stretch my stiff limbs a little and restore normal blood circulation.”

You continued to look around: ahead of you you can see a vast expanse of sea surface; in fact, you and Oolok are standing on a small ledge that adjoins directly to the sea. Behind your back you can see three more rusty grates, which are similar to the grate that Oolok knocked out. There is an extremely strong stench coming from these grates. You have difficulty holding back the urge to vomit. You understand that these grates cover the exits from sewer tunnels through which all sorts of stinking garbage, slurry and other garbage are drained into the sea.

You hear the noise of the port quarter coming from the nearby area. You look out to sea and you notice in the distance several large ships that are located near the main piers of the port of the city of Skelweerd.

Among other things, you notice a wooden boat (its size is about 8 meters in length), which lies on the ground next to the sea surface. Inside the boat there are two pairs of wooden oars.

You ask Oolok: “Didn’t the captain of the guard promise to find us a ship so we could leave this city? We need to go now to the main berths of the port. Is not it?"

Oolok looks at you. His determined look makes you feel embarrassed and feel like you said something stupid. Oolok reaches out and touches the bandaged wound on the palm of your left hand. You feel pain. You want to pull your hand back, but the half-orc does not allow this. His grip is strong.

The half-orc says with irritation: “Do you feel pain? Do you remember how you got this wound, Jerome?"

You answer fearfully: “Yes... I remember... The Gallowguys ambush... Please don't squeeze my hand... It hurts...”

Oolok stops squeezing your palm and removes his hand.

He continues to look into your eyes and says in a decisive tone: “Pain is not only suffering. Pain is a tool for development. Thanks to pain, you have a chance to become smarter. I hope that the events that have occurred have allowed you to understand that very dangerous people are looking for you. Therefore, in such a situation, you will commit an extremely stupid act if you believe the promises of the captain of the city guard! I hope that you need your head not only to eat and to suck big dicks! I hope that you understand that any resident of this city can be bribed by those who want to kill you! You can only rely on your own strength and your closest friends! Remember this, Jerome!

You have nothing to say. Oolok's words are hard on your ego, but there is clearly a significant rational element to these words.

You only nod frantically in response to the half-orc’s words.

The half-orc Oolok then approaches the boat and pushes it into the water. He climbs into the boat and you climb in after him.

Suddenly you hear the sounds of running. Someone is approaching. You grab the hilt of your elven dagger with your hand. Oolok grabs his sword from his backpack.

After ten seconds, the following happens: a tall figure in a hood and a gray cloak jumps from above onto the space of paving stones next to the sewer grates. You see a spacious backpack behind this person’s back.

Before you and Oolok can react, this person pulls back his hood and you see that this person is clearly familiar to you.

It was a tall, black-haired human. It was Franz.

He smiles broadly and says, “I barely managed to make it in time! It's not just the pub that Arlen owns that is being watched by unwanted observers. There are also too many unwanted observers in the port quarter.”

Franz climbs into the boat and takes off his backpack.

Franz smiles at you and says: “Among other problems, cargo inspection measures have been stepped up in the port quarter. It was as if the city guards had made it their mission to stick their noses into every bag and every backpack. That's why I couldn't bring the elven mail in my backpack for you, Jerome. The city guard confiscated this elven chain mail under some absurd pretext - “an attempt to export undeclared protective equipment abroad”! However, I managed to hide a small spear in my backpack, which will obviously be useful to you.”

Franz then takes a pair of oars in his hands. Oolok puts away his sword and he also picks up a pair of oars.

Oolok and Franz begin to row rhythmically. The boat is moving faster and faster towards the port quarter of the city of Skelweerd. The boat is moving into the open sea.

You say with alarm: “But where are we going? We obviously can't get to the Free City of Tior-Faen with this small boat! After all, the distance we need to cover by sea is very long!”

Oolok continues to row his oars and replies: “Of course, we are not sailing to the Free City of Tior-Faen now...”

You are trying to interrupt his speech: “But I need... My father...”

Oolok continues: “It’s not difficult to guess that the one who wants you dead has sent spies who are watching all the ships that depart from the port of the city of Skelweerd to the elven island city of Tior-Faen... Probably, extremely unpleasant surprises await you on each of these ships ..."

Franz rows his oars and says: “From the harbor of the city of Skelweerd, this small boat can only reach the only relatively large island settlement...”

Oolok nods and says: “This island settlement is the small Orlanian town of Ravnia. This town is located on the island of Gray Rock, which is located west of the city of Skelweerd. We will have to sail on this boat for about three days. It's risky. But this is much less risky than meeting with assassins on some large ship that is sailing to the elven city of Tior-Faen."

Franz continues to row the oars and says: “There is a supply of food and drink in my backpack. This is the minimum supply, which should be enough for us for three days. Provided that we have to be extremely moderate in food.”

Oolok says: “In this small island town of Ravnia, we will try not to attract too much attention. We will carefully find out the situation from the local residents and we will find a ship that is heading to the elven city of Tior-Faen."

Franz says: “It will be better this way, Jerome. A villain who wants to kill you is unlikely to expect you to go to your father’s city from a place other than the port of Skelweerd.”

You are powerless to argue anything in response to the words of Oolok and Franz. These guys are clearly much more skilled in matters of survival than you yourself.

The events of recent days and the flow of unexpected information have clearly tired you. You lie down on the bottom of the boat and you put your bag under your head (as if it were a pillow). The boat is moving rapidly along the sea surface. The silhouettes of buildings in the harbor of the city of Skelweerd are increasingly moving away and these silhouettes are becoming faintly distinguishable.

You try to rest and soon you fall asleep.